5 biggest moments of the QuakeCon 2018 keynote address

Bethesda Softworks is showing off its upcoming games at this year’s QuakeCon, an annual event celebrating all things Quake (and Doom, and Fallout, etc.). Bethesda is also hosting a multiday esports tournament for The Elder Scrolls: Legends and Quake Champions, as well as various panels for upcoming games. From Aug. 9-12, Bethesda fans are gathering around to hear about upcoming games and catch sneak peeks of gameplay footage.

The QuakeCon keynote address kicked off on Aug. 10. If you missed it, here are the five best highlights and announcements.

Quake Champions will be permanently free-to-play

id Software and Bethesda announced that the arena shooter will be permenantly free-to-play. Quake Champions was first announced in 2016 and has been in free-to-play early access since 2017, though there are paid Starter and Champions pack options. The first-person shooter combines heroes from the Quake series with characters from id Software’s other games, such as Doom’s Doomslayer and Wolfenstein’s B.J. Blazkowicz.

Quake Champions will be the first game in the main Quake franchise since 2005 and bring a whole new type of gameplay to the series, mixing the world of Quake with fast-paced arena-style shooting. In the new trailer, Quake’s Death Knight is introduced as the latest addition to the game.

The game’s early access is available on Steam. The full release has not yet been announced.

The Elder Scrolls Online’s next expansions will have werewolves and swamp creatures

Wolfhunter, the next expansion in The Elder Scrolls Online, focuses on hunting werewolves and the daedric prince Hircine. The following expansion, Murkmire, will take players to the swampy homeland of the Argonians, the Black Marsh.

Rage 2 brings the best part of the original back — the sweet, sweet vehicles

Vehicles were a big part of the original Rage, so it’s no surprise that they’re back and bigger than ever in Rage 2. There are even more crazy, jacked-up vehicles to race and crash around. Different factions will have different speciality vehicles, and there will also be massive convoys to battle. A big focus of the extended gameplay footage from QuakeCon was a convoy takeover, where the player used their vehicle to take down an army of enemy vehicles and a big bad boss vehicle.

There’s also a ton of new weapons, improved gameplay mechanics and different factions in Rage 2, all with varying strengths and weaknesses. But those machine takeover battles are definitely one of the biggest highlights.

Rage 2 is expected to launch in spring 2019 and is coming to Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

One of the highlights of the announcement was the look at the demons in the new game. Some of these come directly from the previous title, 2016’s Doom, but have been reimagined and updated. Others are completely new designs. The Marauder, for instance, looks uncannily like the Doomslayer, and, as promised by id Software’s Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin, there’s “a story behind that.”

The gameplay footage showed off the demon-slaying action and a new mechanic where the demons slowly destruct as the player gets in more hits.

You’ll also get to control a demon.

That’s right. Live your demon dreams by taking control of one of these otherworldly beings and wreak havoc on another player’s campaign. It’s similar to the Phantom mechanic in the Souls games — except this time, you’re working against the other player. You can join up with other demons to hunt down a slayer and delight in whatever else it is these hellish creatures do in their free time.

Doom Eternal is coming to Nintendo Switch

In addition to the expected PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One versions, it was announced that Doom Eternal will also be coming to Nintendo Switch, much to the delight of Switch owners. Panic Button, which ported Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus and 2016’s Doom to Switch, will also handle the Switch port of Doom Eternal.

The QuakeCon keynote had plenty of excitement, but there’s still a lot more to come from QuakeCon this weekend, and Polygon will be covering the event through Aug. 12.